From the Head of Knox Sports Academy Mr Chuck Ardron

The holiday period was a busy time for many students attending either camps or tours or just taking advantage of the opportunities provide in the Athletic
Development Centre.» Read More

Senior Football travelled to France and Spain, Opens and 16s Rugby went to New Zealand, U15s Rugby went to Queensland and 86 AFL, Football and Rugby
Year 6 boys went to the Gold Coast.
From all accounts all had amazing experiences and valuable training and game as well as plenty of fun. These trips are an important part of the KSA
and its goals and objectives and exposes students to a level of sport and interaction with fellow students and others that they otherwise would not.
Track and Field held their usual training opportunities and have expanded this program with involvement from Pymble Ladies College and also 2 day trips
to the sand hills and parks.
Swimming continued with a large contingent of Knox swimmers preparing for the National Age Championships held in the last week of the holidays.
As we start the first week we are dealing with a storm front that has severely hampered preparations however as always the staff and students will
cope and find ways to prepare as best as we can until the weather improves.
Snow Sports also starts in earnest this term and I welcome the newest addition to the KSA Joany Badenhorst. Joany is a Para Olympian and has already
been involved in the year 7 and 10 camps where she did an outstanding job and I know those involved in snow sports will benefit from her experience.

HIGHLIGHTS

PREP SPORT

On Saturday 11th April, 86 Year 6 boys and 10 staff departed Sydney for our Year 6 Sports Tour to the Gold Coast. » Read More

This year the program was expanded to include AFL, Football and Rugby for boys of all abilities.

The program was based at Runaway Bay Super Sports Centre and was action packed with tough training sessions, challenging games against Club and Academy
teams, team building activities, a night at the movies, an entertaining show at Australia’s Outback Spectacular and a fun day at Wet & Wild.

The tour provided a great opportunity for the boys to become more independent, bond with team mates and build new friendships with others in their year
group. There was a lot of laughter and fun had by all, with many stories to share for years to come.

SENIOR SCHOOL SPORT

​Snow Sports

Snow season officially kicked off this week with the start of dry-land training! » Read More

These are afternoon training sessions with Joaney Badenhorst offered on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays after school at the Athletic Development Centre from
3.30 – 4.30-pm for any and all students participating in Snow Sports this year.

These training sessions aim to help all athletes establish

1. a strong and comprehensive baseline level fitness

2. It also aims to help give all athletes the tools to create and excel through their own sporting success.

If you are not sure, come along!

If you need motivation and a clear goal set for this winter, we can work it out!

If you are a sporting veteran, your leadership and mentoring amongst the group will be encouraged and appreciated!

Lets get fit, strong and fast!

Annual Knox Snowsports Family DinnerWhen: Saturday 29 May, 6.30pm
For more information, see the flyer below.

During the holidays Knox Tennis ran a new format tournament, Fast 4 Tennis. » Read More

This is played differently to a normal set, for example it is first to 4 games, sudden death deuce and the hardest thing to overcome is the play on lets.
This is all aimed to make the matches faster and more exciting for the viewers and spectators.

All of the boys who played in both weeks all adapted very well to the new format and seemed to enjoy the thrill of the pressure points. Each day was split
into a different category with the first days the singles day, second day was the doubles day and the last day was the playoffs and finals for both
singles and doubles. The players were split into groups depending on their standards, which made it fun and fair for all who attended.

Overall it was a great couple of weeks of tennis from all of the boys who showed great improvement as the days went on, with a greater understanding of
match play and tactics. It also gave the boys a taste of how to deal with pressure points in match situations. I was very impressed with how the boys
conducted themselves and there were some outstanding shots. I am looking forward to next time.

The Easter Holiday break presented a number of excellent training opportunities for our athletes. » Read More

Knox again combined its holiday training program with Pymble Ladies College (PLC) which has become a regular and enjoyable partnership for both the girls
and boys. Tuesday and Thursday training sessions saw huge attendances with busy sessions catering for all students from K-12. With Cross Country season
rapidly approaching our distance runners took the opportunity to lay a solid aerobic base to their training and the work ethic display was of an excellent
standard.

Our first clinic at Palm Beach was challenging and although the weather was cooler than expected this provided the perfect conditions for the always demanding
sand hills. After lunch the students returned to the Knox Aquatic Centre looking forward to a pool recovery session to repair those heavy legs.

Conditions for our second clinic at Centennial Park were perfect for our distance athletes. Cooler conditions challenged our sprint group, but all
came away from the session knowing that it will be one of those sessions that will make a difference.

From the Chair of the Track and Field Parent Support Group

Mrs Lane would like to welcome all athletes and parents to the upcoming 2015 Track & Field season. The PSG will be conducting two major events, those
being the Track & Field season launch and Gala Day fundraiser. Any parents wishing to become involved in the Parent Support Group should contact
Mrs Katinka Lane via email cklane@optusnet.com.au.

Any students wishing to undertake Track & Field training are reminded that Knox conducts regular (year round) Tuesday and Thursday morning sessions.
All students are welcome and I would encourage any student wishing to improve their athleticism to attend:

Tuesday, 6:45-8am at Gillespie Field

Thursday, 6:45-8am at Gillespie Field

Football - European Tour

Twenty-nine boys and six staff ventured over to Paris, Barcelona and Madrid for an action-packed fourteen days of training, playing matches and some sight-seeing.» Read More

The boys fitted in eight training sessions, four matches and three stadium tours, as well as watching three matches.

The first stop in Paris where we stayed at Clairefontaine, the French National Training Centre. The first two sessions were at Paris St Germaine where
the boys were treated to a couple of quality sessions at the PSG Academy. Our first game was against AC Paris 15, our U16’s had ended up with a 5 –
nil win whilst our Opens team thumped AC Paris 9 – 1.

The final day in Paris the boys enjoyed a little sight-seeing to the Eifell Tower, Notre Dame and did some shopping on the Champs Elysee before jetting
off to our next stop, Barcelona.

Straight off the plane at Barcelona and into some training at the fabulous Barcelona Club next to Camp Nou. Two sessions at Barcelona were fantastic
and the boys enjoyed being coached by the Head of the FCB Escola and were privileged to learn the Barcelona way of playing.

At Camp Nou the boys watched the world’s best player Lionel Messi score a brace in a 4 – nil win with 75,000 screaming fans on a Wednesday night.

Game 2 of the tour in Barcelona we were hoping for some stronger opposition with our U16’s going down 2 – 1 in a hard-fought match with our Opens continuing
a rich vein of goal scoring winning 11 – nil.

Now off to Madrid!

Our last stop had the boys three sessions – two at Real Madrid and one at Athletico Madrid along with probably the highlight of the tour – attending
the first leg quarter final champions league match derby Athletico Madrid -v- Real Madrid. A once in probably three lifetimes opportunity for Aussie
boys to watch a Derby in a sell-out crowd with 84,000 passionate Athletico Madrid fans!

The third match on tour was won easily which gave and because of the quality of the boys showed through in the previous matches they were given the
opportunity to play a La-Liga team in our final match of the tour – Getafe. This team was second in the U16’s Cadet A League to Real Madrid and it
was an absolute highlight for the boys to be able to play a team of this standard and test themselves against this kind of quality. Knox Opens finally
went down 2 – nil but were well and truly in the match and showed flashes of our own quality.

The trip home – all boys arrived safe and well, fit and healthy handed back to parents with memories for life.

Forty-nine Open and U 16 rugby players enjoyed eight great days, deep in the rugby heart land, of the South Island of New Zealand.» Read More

The first stop was beautiful Queenstown, where the boys trained at a world class training facility, with the massive “Remarkables” mountain range as a
backdrop. This was also the base for the tours adventure experiences on the “Shotover River Jet boat,” the downhill luge ride,” as well as a heart
thumping three hours, zip lining about the tree tops in the “ Adrenalin forest adventure.”

The boys and the staff were taken out of their “comfort zones” with some challenging experiences.

After four great days training in Queenstown the tour travelled to Christchurch and attended the Crusaders verses the Highlanders Super rugby match.

The boys were very fortunate to attend Crusaders training and have a coaching session with the Canterbury Crusaders assistant coaches.

The highlight of the tour was have an hour session of questions and answer with two All Blacks, Sam Whitelock and Ryan Crotty.

Both Sam and Ryan remarked on the quality of the boys questions. It was obvious the boys had thought deeply about the “culture of New Zealand Rugby.”

The tour became an eight-day emersion into the wonderful depths of New Zealand’s rugby culture and the responsibility taken by the New Zealand players,
not the coaches, to protect and up lift that culture.

The night before playing Christchurch Boys High School, the teams were billeted by the families of the Christchurch Boys High 1st XV, 2nd XV and 16A.
CBHS are ranked number four in NZ and are the top ranked south Island school. The boys enjoyed the warm hospitality from the CBHS families.

On Monday April 13th Knox played CBHS. The boys can take great pride from their performances. On a very windy day the 16 A team played super rugby
and had an excellent win. Running into the wind, the 2nd XV gave away three easy tries to CBHS and despite dominating the second half, they could not
recover the points. The 1st XV played some wonderful rugby and were dominating a top line CBHS team, leading 19-12, ten minutes into the second half.

The boys learnt a valuable lesson. You can never relax against Kiwi teams. Knox lost concentration and CBHS ran in some excellent tries to win.

The entire reason for touring is to learn and the boys were provided with a first class learning opportunity.

It was a wonderful trip on every level. The rugby was of a very high standard, much higher than the CAS competition. The training was challenging.
The off field activities were exhilarating and great fun.

The tour also empowered the players to bond as a group and for the leaders to emerge to guide their peers. There were no groups of Year 12, Year 11
or Year 10 boys, there was only one group of Knox rugby players.

The boys behaviour was excellent. The day after the billeting with CBHS, several parents of the New Zealand families came to me to compliment the manners,
conduct and character of our boys.

Sincere thanks to the Black and Blue rugby committee for their support of the tour and to all the staff and players who worked with great dedication, to
make the tour a success.

Swimming

2015 Georgina Hope Foundation Australian Age Championships
13 Knox Boys were competing at the 2015 National Swimming Championships, held last week in Sydney.» Read More

With 1700 swimmers converging on SOPAC from almost 200 different swim clubs, all States and Territories were well represented.

Leon MacAlister (Year 9) had a great week, he was on the dais for two Gold medals, two Silver medals and two Bronze medals.

Vincent Dai (Year 12) also won two Gold medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle.

William Yang (Year 11) was our only other medalist. Will won Bronze in the 100m backstroke.

Like Leon, Andrew Hemsworth (Year 11) also had a busy week. Andrew made four finals in the 100m Fly and Breaststroke, and the 200m and 400m medley events.

Making their first National Age finals this year, Lachlan Kelly (Year 8) in the 200m backstroke, and Jack Ryan (Year 10) in the 50m freestyle.

Finally, a special mention to Ethan Hansen (Year 7) who was one of only four 12 year old qualifiers in the 400m medley, but also was a member of the
14yr/under 4x50m freestyle team that came 7th. A great effort to race against swimmers two years older than himself.

The qualifying times are so hard to achieve, that in some events there are less than 10 competitors who can qualify. So congratulations to all our
swimmers who qualified.

With CIS next week, and NSW All Schools in mid-May, the summer season is coming to a close. As Pacific School Games is selected from All Schools, there
is no break just yet!

REGULAR NOTICES

Sport Wet Weather Information

Sport fixtures are advertised on the fixture schedule on the Knox Portal.

These fixtures can change due to many factors and changes after 3pm on Fridays due to wet weather, cancellations or forfeits will be advertised on the sports info website and wet weather number.

A mini website has been created for Prep and Senior School students and parents to get the latest sport wet weather information via their smartphone. Please visit and bookmark www.knox.nsw.edu.au/sport.

Boarder Travel to Sport

Any boarder who needs assistance with travel arrangements to each Saturdays sport should check with their coach to assist in arranging transport. » Read More

Where this has not been successful then students should check with their housemaster to assist with arrangements.

Knox Dog Policy

Please note that Knox Grammar School has introduced a policy regarding dogs on our property and that all dogs on Knox property must be restrained on a lead at all times. » Read More

Owners must also immediately clean up after their dogs.

Uniform

Any student attending any Knox sporting fixture and/or venue must be properly attired in either track suit or school uniform.» Read More